Swedish Limpa
I found this recipe in one of my grandmother's cookbooks, which is at least 50 years old. The recipe states that it's "an old recipe handed down in the family" (not mine). I tried this recipe once, but found the sourdough taste more pronounced than I care for. The loaves had a lovely, even crumb.
Swedish Limpa
Cook potatoes with peelings. Peel while hot and mash or put through a ricer. To 5 cups mashed potatoes stir in as much rye flour as you can. Set this in a warm place for 2 days. Stir a few times. It will get thinner as it ferments. To this mixture add:
1 quart buttermilk
1 cup water
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
1-1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seed
3 yeast packages
(More rye flour and white flour, to be added during kneading)
Have all this lukewarm. Let this rise until light. Knead using about 2 cups more rye flour, rest white flour. Do not knead it too hard. Let rise and knead down again. After second rising form in eight small loaves. Let rise until about double in size. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Brush top of loaves with molasses water a couple times during baking. This bread is heavy so it will rise much slower than ordinary bread.
I've only ever made Limpa with beer, and there's orange zest and juice in there as well.
Yes, I usually add orange zest to Swedish rye bread. "Limpa" is the Swedish word for "loaf", but at least in the U. S. it seems to have become associated with Swedish rye bread with orange zest in it. Beer or ale is used in rye bread at Christmas for "dopp i grytan", or dip in the kettle. The bread is dipped into the kettle containing the broth from the Christmas ham. I grew up in a community with many Swedish immigrants; my grandmother was born in the U. S. of Swedish immigrants. She made Swedish rye bread frequently but never used orange zest. The flavors usually associated with Swedish rye bread in my hometown were molasses and anise. My grandmother frequently used potato water in her bread.
As I live in sweden this references to what is real swedish "limpa" is quite entertaining. Because as you say the word means loaf. There is a big variety of breads traditionally made in sweden wich allmost all of them consists of some rye, this is due the climate preventing succesful growing of wheat. Not saying that you cannot grow wheat here It is just that the country is so "long" that the climate differs hugely.
Swedish breads tend to be over sweetened but there are a couple of good traditional breads.
Vort-loaf: The traditional Swedish christmas loaf with vort flavoring with or without raisins. Tunnbrod: Flat (4mm high) barley and rye bread, soft or crispy. The standard limpa here in sweden is often flavored with anis, fenne, caraway and pomerans (the zest of a bitter small citrus fruit) but potato flavored bread is also common as is breads made with scalded flour.
Scalded flour is a good technique wich I think you should try. Simply take some of the rye intended for your recipie and pour boiling water over it and then leave it on the counter to bake bread with it in the morning. This makes for a somewhat sweeter rye without adding lots of sugars!
Thank you for your authoritative comments about Swedish breads, Kuret! I frequently scald the rye flour when making Swedish rye bread, but hadn't known that one of the reasons is to make it sweeter. When we visited relatives in Sweden several years ago we marveled at the variety of good breads on the table.
I can´t say that I "know" that scalding is for making the bread sweeter, however it does make the bread sweeter.
quoting a swedish baker : "scalded breads always taste a bit sweet. this is due to the starch beeing degraded to sugars during the night" probably the scaldning brings the flour up to a temperature where diastetic enzymes can work on the flour? Assuming that the water is not exactly boiling when poured over the flour the mixture will probably have even lesser temperature allowing the enzymes to do their magic.. the ones suriviving the intense heat that is.
I also find scalded rye less crumbly than unscalded, do you?
I will pay more attention to the crumbliness next time I scald the rye; however, I use more wheat flour than rye in my loaves, so perhaps there isn't a noticeable difference.
Thanks, never even thought of scalding rye. ooh, yes, I see a connection, I'm on to something....no time...gotta run...mad scientist mode....later...
Hi Kuret, do you have any recipes for good Swedish breads (limpa LOL)... I have a friend who lives here from Sweden and it would be a nice surprise to give him some bread that would be like those from his home country. I just got some organic whole rye berries, I can grind them at home to whatever consistency is needed.
I just made the Swedish Rye bread from Peter Reinhar't Bread Baker's Apprentice book. An interesting bread but it brought back some interesting teenage memories!
Check it out.
http://saltandserenity.com/2010/04/25/37-swedish-rye-bread-2/
Thanks for the information. I try and bake as many Swedish breads as I can find recipes. My favorite memory of Sweden is breakfast and the vast variety of bread and cheese. There may have been other foods, but I never got past the bread and cheese. Pam